1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a bed having a base, a mattress, and a system for moving the mattress up and down for helping a person make the bed, and can be preferably adapted for beds in a guest room of hotels or the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Making the bed is one of the routine jobs for a person in charge of preparing the guest rooms in hotels, in which the person spreads bed covers such as sheets and blankets over the mattress and lifts the mattress with one hand to fold the corners of the bed covers under the mattress. The person must repeat these steps over and over, within a short period of time in order to make many beds. Therefore, a system for helping a person make beds has been in demand.
FIG. 12 shows a bed containing the conventional helping system disclosed in the document of Japanese patent application (TOKKAI-HEI-3-207308). This bed 1 comprises a base 2, a mattress 3 provided on a top face 2A of the base 2, and an inflatable body 4 provided between the base 2 and the mattress 3. As shown in the Figure, the inflatable body 4 is centered on the top face 2A of the base 2 and has a square-shaped elastic bag which can be connected with an air-supplying means 6 through tubes 5, 7 and a valve 8. These tubes 5, 7 form a passage of compressed air flow from the air-supplying means 6, while the valve 8 provided between the above tubes 5, 7 controls the stoppage or flow of air to the inflatable body 4.
Generally, the air supplying means 6 is an air-supply tube connected to an air compressor, a gas cylinder or the like for supplying a large amount of compressed air to the inflatable body 4. In the Figure, however, only one end of the air-supply tube is shown.
The conventional system described above is used as follows:
(i) first, connecting the air-supplying tube 7 with the air-supplying means 6, and with the air-introducing tube 5 of the inflatable body 4 through the valve 8, in order to introduce the compressed air into the body 4;
(ii) opening the valve 8 in order to allow the compressed air to flow into the inflatable body 4;
(iii) filling the inflatable body 4 with a supply of the compressed air in order to lift the mattress and to make a space between the base 2 and the mattress 3;
(iv) closing the valve 8 in order to stop the compressed air flow to the inflatable body 4 and to simultaneously avoid an out flow of the air therefrom;
(v) spreading the corners of the bed covers 9 over the mattress 3 and then folding them under the mattress 3; and
(vi) opening the valve 8 in order to release the air from the inflatable body 4 and move the mattress 3 down resulting in the placement of the corners of the bed covers 9 between the mattress 3 and the base 2.
In this way, the system described above helps the person who makes the bed.
However, as described above, the conventional system requires a large amount of compressed air from the air-supplying means 6 connected to the air compressor or the like to fill the inflatable body 4. Thus, it is difficult to provide a hotel with an air-supplying means to supply an adequate amount of compressed air to each guest room when the use of the above conventional system is in demand.